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In your view, what's the biggest social problem in America? Can you think of any way to help solve or to reduce the negative impact of this problem?
Jamar Brown
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14 comments:
Hi, Jamar. I think the biggest social problem in America is that the rich tend to get richer and the poor tend to get poorer. The disparity in financial status between the rich and the poor is behind (or plays a major role in) many of the social ills in our country, such as crime, malnutrition, hunger, homelessness, disease, infant death mortality, drug use, substandard housing, the abortion rate, the increased cost of medical care and insurance, racism, low self-esteem, and depression. (I'm sure there are others.)
I like the idea of CEOs making no more than a certain percentage (maybe 500%?) more money than their company's lowest-paid employee. If they want to make more, they have to pay employees more.
But I think maybe the best way to help solve this problem is for more extremely wealthy people to follow the example of Ted Turner, Bill Gates, and, most recently, Warren Buffett in distributing their surplus wealth to those who are most in need.
However, most of the most needy people live outside the U.S., so poor Americans aren't benefiting so much by this redistribution, I guess. Still, it's got to be a boost in morale for all Americans to see the rich sharing with the poorest of the poor. I think it's also good for all people to see that at some point even the most wealthy Americans say "enough is enough--let's save some lives with all this surplus cash."
John W.
How people are treated. In high school I played softball for the high school. That experiance was the worst I have ever had because I was treated second best to someone who was way worse. This girl was treated best because her relative donated a lot of money to the school. Teacher do the same thing they pick favorites and only help the favorites. My algebra teacher would look over some peoples tets but not others. Tellling them what to fix to get a better grade but ignore others. Teachers need to be more considerate of their students all of their students. a name is only a name it means nothing but to some it means everything. That girl was played above me not for skill but because of who she was. It was really degrading and upsetting. Children are the future and need to all be treated with respect.
Nicole Mulrooney
The biggest problem that I see in societ today, is that there are a a lot of people who can work that don't. They are all able to, but they want to steal the taxpapers money I think that the goverment should try to find ways to make everybody who is able in this country have a job. So our money could be spent on bettering things instead of paying someones bills, who is able to work
Jamie Brooks
My opinion about the biggest problem in America, is that the young generation is out of control. I think that the young adults have no respect for their elers and they have no morals. This is a big problem because the parents are responsible. Most parents don't disipline their children nor do they spend quality time with them. This problem may be rsolved, however it is so out of control since the law of child abuse came into effect.
Leta
I think the biggest social problem in America is finding a decent job. Twenty some years ago a person could go out and find a 40 hour a week, decent paying job, have job security, full benefits, and a retirement package, all without a college degree. Anymore, that's hard to come by, even with the basic college degree.
Since most of our factory and industrial jobs have been shipped overseas to people who will work for next to nothing, it seems like now a days the only jobs out there are in retail or fast food.
The easiest way to solve this problem would be to go back to how things were before, but that'll never happen. In the corporate world, noboby cares about the people at the bottom that are working to make them money. All they care about is numbers. If they offered such things as higher wages, benefits, retirement packages, it would just cut into their profits.
Pat Mahoney
There are many problems in the world today, but one is that not enough people care about each other. Everyone seems to be out for themselves, they do not care who they hurt along the way. I include the government in that statement. From students, teachers, managers, store owners, and even other drivers on the street. I was driving to work the other day and had someone pull out in front of me, my light was green, and they yelled at me to get off of the road. What was that? Kids sign up for ball, try out and make the team, but do not get to play. People do not even open doors for others anymore. All people should be treated as an equal, who are we to say we are better than someone else. Darcy Cekander
The biggest social problem that America faces today is racial inequality people should not treat people a certain way because its a way they want to be treated but rather treat respectfully because we are all equal in our own right
Corey
I for one am sick and tired of frivilous lawsuits. Though the fear of being sued affects nearly all business and their policies, I am overly exhausted of unnecessary school security measures that only lower the education level. School boards are becoming too afraid of lawsuits as a result of an extremely rare potential terror threat. There is a slight risk to everything. I feel like I am more likely to get hit by a car crossing the street than having a terrorist or troubled student attack Villa Grove High School. Money is tight in a small school district, and money should be put forth for a quality learning environment, not ridiculous security projects.
Frivilous lawsuits are costing American taxpayers millions. Stop the crisis. We need to learn to do things at our own risk.
-Michael Holmes
I think the biggest social problem in America is selfishness. We all want everything we can't have and some people don't stop to think how it may affect others to do whaever it takes to get what we want. If we didn't focus so much on ourselves, then we could help so many others. We all tend to be self cenetered and I think that is the root of a lot of our problems today. ~Adrianna~
Jamar
Okay, I just read over my answer and realized how long it was. If you don't want to read it, that's okay, I understand. Hope it helps, though.
My answer is a combination of Nicole's and Corey's, I think(If I understand them correctly). I think people should be treated eqaully, but we're not. The first part of my answer corresponds with Nicole's. We have a situation in our school where we have an idiot principal in our elementary (gosh,I hope you don't know her. just kidding) anyway, This past year our school hired many new teachers. One of them was a kindergarten teacher. Now, one day, this teacher came to school with a sling on her arm because she was dancing on top of a table at a bar. now that's one thing. But she also didn't finish the required state testing that everyschool does every year. She just decided that she had better things to do. Now, Ms. Greenwood, our principal, has a girlfriend from this teacher's hometown. So, becuase this teacher has that inside connection, that situation is just gettin brushed aside and ignored. I believe that the principal is hoping that it just gets looked over. And yet, we have innocent teachers who are known statewide for their work(who are underpaid may i add) who the school is trying to get rid of. The only reason that the kindergarten teacher isn't getting fired is because of that inside connection. Anyone else, and they would have been out of htere in a flash. (Especially with the whole testing things, because that gets money for our school and that seems to be all our school cares about anymore). Anyway, to go along with Corey's answer and to elaborate a little too. I think that treating others differently becuase of any kind of appearance is a huge problem. Whether its race, religion, ethnicity, or any kind of appearance. i have a friend who lost a significant amount of weight. She said people just treat you differently when you are thin. She said she could see the change in people's attitudes towards her as she lost more and more weight. Whether it was in a department store where she was asking for assistance or in the check out in the grocery store, she said people were just more polite when she was thinner, which is very sad. There is also the racism thing, that i really don't want to get into, but it really bugs me. We are all created equally, right? I think you know that I am a fairly religious person. The bible tells us that God created all men equally. I believe that alot of it might be insecurity with oneself. I honestly don't know why people are racist, I really don't know. My heart breaks to think about something so small as the way people look is changing how people are being treated. What can be done about it? I'm not sure becuase people are always going to be stubborn. I guess we can refuse to hire idiots and cowards in leadership postions (refering to my first story)I really don't know what we can do about people not treating others fairly because of appearance. I guess just continue to remind people that we are all created equally. I'm sorry I can't really answer the last part of the question. I'm just a small voice in a huge world. I think there are tons of problems in our society, but this would be the first step to solving many of them.
Rebecca Carmack
I believe that the biggest social problem in America is greed. So many people are worried about how much money they have and how to get more of it. I'll bet that if everyone had the same amount of money, than our country would have a lot less crime to say the least. Also, greed creates people to backstab their closest friends and even family members. I just wish that money wasn't such an issue.
~*Amanda Wasowitz*~
I feel like one of the biggest problems that we have as Americans is that we judge people too easily. Some of my best firends are people who others glare at or stare at in public places by how they dress and look. I feel like many times people will jump to conclusions about certain people before they even know them, just by their appearance. Someone could run into the best friend they never had because they were too busy judging.
there is always going to be people who continue to judge, its personal choice on how people see other people. So People need to choose to be more open minded.
Maria Shallenberger
I agree with Maria, I think judging people is the biggest problem that we have. Growing up in a small town I saw people thinking that they were better than others just because they went to different high schools. Ive been to Chicago sometimes and I see people looking at you and knowing your not from there because of the clothes you were. So many times people wont talk to each other or are scared of each other, because of their skin type, the clothes they wear or just how different they are. Aaron Royse
I think that the biggest social problem in the US is selfishness/greed. People strive to get the most money and have the best things. They don't care who they hurt on their way to having the best stuff. Once people get what they want (possibly lots of money), they are very greedy. They will not share with anyone. Even though they have more than enough money to support their family and their family's lavish lifestyles, many of them refuse to help people who are in need! Those kind of people blow my mind! We are all in this world together, so why don't we help each other out? If we all worked for each other and with one another, we could do so much more and things would be so much easier!
Alex
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